Image Metrics Provides Facial Animation for NBA 2K10

Image Metrics, the leading provider of facial animation technology and services for the entertainment industry, has utilized its proprietary rig transfer technology on nearly one thousand faces for 2K Sports' highly anticipated NBA 2K10.

Image Metrics, the leading provider of facial animation technology and services for the entertainment industry, has utilized its proprietary rig transfer technology on nearly one thousand faces for 2K Sports' highly anticipated NBA 2K10. It also provided 23 minutes of facial animation for the game.

Image Metrics' rigging services utilize many of the company's proprietary technologies, as well as the expertise of its in-house rigging specialists to speed facial rig creation and improve the core facial foundations essential for producing highly emotive facial animation.

Developing 986 rigs for players and coaches depicted in the game, Image Metrics also produced three levels of facial animation: Generic Ambient animations such as blinks, glances and yawns, Generic Signature animations triggered by an event, like a slam dunk or a steal, and Signature Style animation for star players such as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neil, Kevin Garnett, Vince Carter, Tim Duncan, Chris Paul and more. The company then provided the facial animation data to 2K Games to apply to its 3D character models for NBA 2K10.

The project, which was completed in about six weeks, is Image Metrics' first with 2K Sports and is also the largest number of characters the company has rigged for a single game to date.